Character Development: Stefano Barba Kevin Pinto Monica Ramirez Mrs. Mayorga April 14, 2011

Stefano Barba
Kevin Pinto
Monica Ramirez
Mrs. Mayorga
April 14, 2011
Character Development
Jem and scout have changed throughout the story. At the beginning Jem and scout are both
very adventurous and have a great curiosity for Boo Radley (Arthur Radley) and this is why they
start playing the Boo Radley game with dill. At the time they’re very immature and they don’t
think to much for others feelings. Furthermore, Jem changes in the sense that he starts
maturing and becoming more of a man. For example, in escorting scout to her performance and
protecting her while he is fighting Bob Ewell. Scout comes from un-lady like her whole life but
she matured and realized that it’s better to please people sometimes. She used to have crazy
fantasies about Boo Radley but she started to see him as normal person as the story goes on.
She began to see people’s point of view and she stopped blurting out whatever she thought.
She showed the most maturity at the end of the story by the way she treated boo. She put him
in the dark so he would feel most comfortable and when she escorted him she made it look as if
he was escorting her. This shows how much scouts has grown because a few years ago she
would have treated Boo like if he was a crazy psychopath.
Setting
The setting of “To Kill a Mocking Bird” greatly affects how the events of the story reveal
themselves. It is set during the great depression which many of the citizen of Maycomb were
affected, some more greatly than others, farmers especially. Scout mentions “A day was
twenty-four hours long but seemed longer. There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go,
nothing to buy and no money to buy it with, nothing to see outside the boundaries of Maycomb
County.” She experienced how the great depression affected her family and her whole town.
The poverty added boredom and struggles to the residents of Maycomb. Segregation was also
big problem since it was set in the time before Martin Luther King. Most people in Maycomb
were racist and would always take the words of white man over the words of a black man.
Scout states that "There are four kinds of folks in the world. There's the ordinary kind like us
and the neighbors, there's the kind like the Cunningham’s out in the woods, the kind like the
Ewells down at the dump, and the Negroes." This shows how a child views the town of
Maycomb is divided by those money, education, and race. However African Americans will
always be at the bottom of the social pyramid even if their educated and don’t lack money.
Symbolism
In “To Kill a Mocking Bird” Symbolism takes a big part in the story. The author uses many
symbols throughout the novel that relate to the real world. The main and biggest symbol is the
Mocking bird. It first used when Atticus told scout "I'd rather you shot at tin cans in the back
yard, but I know you'll go after birds. Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit 'em, but
remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." The mocking bird is used to describe something
peaceful that doesn’t do anything to harm anyone. Miss Maudie explains to scout by saying
"Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's
gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's
why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." Tom Robison Portrays the mocking bird because he did
nothing wrong and it was a “sin” for them to convict of rape. Tom Robison did nothing wrong
but he was killed for no good reason which the same as killing a mocking bird, it was sin.
Research 1- Biographical Theory
In this critical essay “To Kill a Mocking bird is examined using the biographical theory. The
writer concludes that Harper Lee’s life greatly influences the novel she wrote. He starts off by
stating that her young yearning to write is equal to scouts yearning to read. Scout In many
ways reflects Harper Lee herself and the writer continue to compare the two. While Harper Lee
did not go through a crisis like Tom Robison case she still shares a lot in common with Scout.
The writer then argues that the way Lee saw segregation also affected her writing. She lived
during the time when African Americans were slowly gaining back their rights and that’s why
she felt so against the unfair treatment of African Americans. If she was from an earlier age
maybe she never would have thought that way but she lived during the time when people
realized the unfairness of blacks. For these many reason Lee could have gained her inspiration
for creating the character of Tom Robinson. The final point made is the way women are
portrayed in the novel is closely relating to lee. This is because when it comes to feminism Lee
and Scout have the most in common. They both lived during the time when women had little
rights and followed the same social habit. Scout was Lee way of releasing what she felt and
lived through in the male dominant world. It’s all because Lee lived that way that scout was
made the narrator of the story. Scout in many ways is another embodiment of Lee and it is clear
to see that Lee’s life is the inspiration for the character of Scout Finch.
Research 2- Feminist Theory

This critical essay explains “To Kill a Mocking Bird” using the feminist theory to explain events in
the story. It is explained that the novels use of Scout as a first person narrator adds an
important effect that the movie lacks. That is because in the novel everything is seen from a
female’s point of view unlike the movie. They continue to explain that using scout as a narrator
is useful in seeing how it is to live in an adult male world. Then that’s when they explain why
the novel is useful in describing how feminism was for a growing child. How because she lived
in a feministic world she was greatly puzzled and constantly felt like an outsider because she
was un-lady like. Scout faced so many questions because of the world she lived in. These
questions are like will she ever be able to fit in the town’s society and is her relationship with
Atticus strong because of her tom boy attitude. The essay finally adds on that the women of
Maycomb aren’t exactly the greatest people. Women like Mrs. Dubose and Aunt Alexandria
defy the rights of women and follow the same social pattern the followed all their lives.
Because they follow tradition they don’t accept scout being a tom boy which is very sexist on
their part. While there is exceptional women like Miss Maudie and Calpurnia the town really
lacks more powerful women.

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Stefano Barba

April 14, 2011

Research 1- Biographical Theory

Research 2- Feminist Theory

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